Clasp.



PATENTED SEPT. 11, 1906.

C. ANDRESEN.

CLASP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY27.1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11, 1906.

Application filed May 2'7, 1904. Serial No. 210,130.

To (all whom, it fiuty concern.-

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN ANnREsEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clasps, of which the following is a full, clear, and

' exact description, reference being had to the clasp closed over a piece of fabric. Fig. 2 is an open view of the same. Fig. 3 1s a perspective of the clasp swung open. Flg. 4 IS a side view of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detached enlarged plan view of the clasp closed. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal middle section on line 6 6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a side view, enlarged, showingthe clasp open to full extent. Fig. 8 is a plan of the plate or blank constituting the stationary jaw of the clasp. Fig. 9 is a perspective of the movable aw, and Fig. 10 is a perspective of the locln'ng member or lever.

The present invention has relation to improvements in clasps for the support of garments, hose, garters, goods intended for display, and, in fact, for any and all purposes that a clasp may be adapted.

The object of the invention is to construct a clasp which will seize the goods or fabric along a maximum surface of contact, so that the danger of tearing the same under a strain or while under tension shall be reduced to a minimum.

A further object is to distend the jaws of the clasp to a degree sufficient to receive a maximum thickness of material, this distention facilitating the passage of the aws over the material or permitting its ready insertion thereinto.

A further object is to construct a clasp which will not unduly puncture the goods and, in fine, to provide a clasp which shall offer further and other advantages better apparent from a detailed description of the invention, which is as follows:

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the body portion or stationary jaw of the clasp, and 2 the outer member of the movable jaw. The hinged connection between the aws is preferably effected as shown in Figs. 1 to 10, inclusivethat is to say, the movable jaw 2 is provided with the basal laterally-disposed ears 3 3, whose forward portions are provided with openings 4 4 for the reception of the pins or trunnions 5 5 formed on the sides of the stationary aw. Between the ears 3 3 the body of the jaw 2 is partially excised, leaving the inwardly-projecting flanges 6 6 on the rear extension or arm, which constitutes the inner member of the jaw, (as seen to best-advantage in Figs. 6, 7, 9,) for a purpose presently to appear. As seen best in Fig. 7, the plane of the body of the aw 2 makes an angle with the plane of the flanges 6 6, giving the member as a whole a bell-crank form, so that when the jaw 2 closes against the stationary aw 1 not only will it close in a plane parallel therewith and grip the fabric F between the entire surface of the inner face of the movable jaw and a corresponding surface of the stationary aw, but the angular disposition of the rear extension carrying the flanges 6 6 permits the fulcruming between the rear ends of the ears 3 thereof of the locking member or lever 7, the short arm of which is preferably in the form of a tongue 8, deflected substantially at right angles to the long arm 7.

Formed adjacent to the trunnions 9 of the.

locking-lever and contiguous to the base of the sides of the tongue 8 are shoulders or offsets 10, the trunnions engaging the openings 11 in the ears 3 and the shoulders 10 being adapted as the lever is swung to an open position to engage the under surfaces of the flanges 6 of the jaw 2, the said lever and jaw from the moment of engagement rocking together as a unit about the hinge-axis of the movable jaw, the latter opening to a maxi mum extent, as fully seen in'Figs. 3 and 7. This engagement between the shoulders 10 and the flanges 6 takes place when the lever 7 has been swung open to substantially the dotted position shown in Fig. 4, after which, as before stated, the jaw 2 and lover 7 rock as a unit until the face of the reduced base of the lever-arm 7 bears against the terminal loop 12, with which the jaw 1 is provided, Figs. 2, 7. The loop 12 is of course intended to receive a suitable brace or web IV, according to the service which the clasp is to perform.

The operation of the clasp will be best appreciated by a reference to Fig. 7. In that figure the clasp is shown fully open and the locking-lever swung fully back. As the lever is swung to a closing position (to the left) it permits the jaw 2 to approach the stationary jawl until the free edge of the tongue 8 begins to engage the adjacent face of said stationary jaw. This engagement forces the rear end of the jaw 2 away from the jaw 1 and forcibly drives the front end against the jaw 1, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6. After the engaging edge of the tongue 8 has reached the point which may be denominated as the dead-centerthat is, the point at which the tongue is precisely at right angles to the plane of the jaw 1the resiliency of the metal composing the blank out of which the jaw 1 is formed automatically snaps the free end of the'lever 7 against the movable jaw thus forced into engagement with'the stationary jaw, and the parts remain locked, Figs. 4, 6. The gripping-surfaces of the respective jaws are serrated or roughened, as at 13 13, the teeth intermeshing and firmly holding the fabric F between them. To impart added resiliency and at the same time a yielding quality to the jaw 1, I preferably form a longitudinal slit 14 14 on each side of the center thereof, whereby the portion of the metal be tween the slits more readily yields to the tongue 8 in the rocking of the latter past the deadcentera quality especially essential where it becomes necessary to grip fabrics of unusual thickness and which but for said yielding quality would resist the oscillation of the lever.

A mechanical analysis of the jaw 2 dis closes the fact that it is a bent or angular lever of the first-class whose fulcrum is along the hinge-axis passing through the openings 4 4: on a line intermediate the opposite ends of the jaw, the resistance to be overcome being opposite the long arm thereof and the point of application of the power being at the end of the short arm and virtually at a point determined by the pivotal axis of the lever 7. The lever 7 may be likened to a bent lever of the first class, in which the point of application of the power is at the free end of the long arm 7, the fulcrum along the axis of the trunnions 9 9, and the resistance at the end of the tongue 8. The lever and tongue operate, too, on the principle of a cam, the tongue 8 gradually encountering increasing resistance as it passes over the plate 1.

A further analysis discloses the fact that the axis of rotation of the lever 7 is rearward of the hinge-axis of the jaw 2-a necessary corollaryto what already precedes. Afurther analysis, too, shows that all the three members 1 2 '7 are pivotally coupled to one another-at the sides of the clasp, so that all obstructions to the free and ready passage of the fabric into the jaws are removed.

It will be seen that the gripping-arm or outer member of the movable jaw 2 closes into substantial parallelism with the stationary jaw when the opposite member or arm of such movable jaw is disposed at an angle to the stationary jaw, Fig. 6, and when the jaws are open, Fig. 7, the inner member of the movable jaw is practically parallel with the stationary jaw.

When the forward portion of the movable jaw, (or that identified by the reference-numeral 2) is forced into engagement with the stationary jaw 1, the plane of the rear excised portion (identified by the numerals 6) is disposed at an angle to the stationary j aw, as fully illustrated in Figs.4 and 6. When themovable jaw is opened out, the part 2 makes an angle with the jaw 1 and the part 6, on the other hand, is in substantial parallelism with the jaw 1, as fully shown in Fig. 7. These results are due to the bell-crank or angular form given to the movable jaw, permitting not only a maximum opening therefor for the purpose of receiving the fabric to be gripped, but permitting the pivoting of the lever 7 in the manner already indicated. The arms of the bell-crank jaw 2 are therefore so disposed angularly that one or the other is always in substantial parallelism with the stationary jaw, the outer arm for a closed position of the jaw and the inner or rear arm for an open position.

Having described my invention, what I claim is A clasp comprising a stationary jaw, and a bent movable jaw hinged to the sides thereof along an axis removed from the rear end of the movable jaw, the short arm of said movable jaw having a section excised therefrom, a flange on each side of said excised section, a locking-lever of the first class pivotally coupled to the movable jaw rearward of the hinge-axis thereof and operating through said excised portion, the rear arm or member of said lever adapted to engage the stationary jaw and force the movable jaw agalnst it upon oscillation in one direction, and suitable formations on the locking-lever adapted to engage the flanges on the movable jaw aforesaid and tilt the latter away from the stationary j aw up on oscillation of the lockinglever in the opposite direction, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHRISTIAN ANDRESEW. Witnesses:

EMIL STAREK, M. B. BELT, 

